Gaza blockade

Two and a half years after the devastating destruction in Gaza, this paper analyses the effectiveness of the Gaza Reconstruction Mechanism (GRM) in improving access to water, health and sanitation services and identifies urgent steps that should be taken. 

As the blockade imposed by Israel approaches its 9th anniversary, it continues to devastate the lives and livelihoods of 1.8 million Palestinians living in Gaza. This collective punishment keeps people poor, denies them their rights and fails to make Israel safer, Oxfam said today.

Rich countries have paid out less than half the amount they originally pledged to help countries recover from a snapshot of three major humanitarian crises, according to Oxfam.

One year on from the 2014 Gaza conflict, most people's lives have not improved and an entire generation of young people face an increasingly bleak future with little hope of jobs, reconstruction or safety, Oxfam said today. 

In 2014, after unprecedented destruction and suffering in Gaza, international donors pledged $3.5 billion and a change in approach. Six months later, reconstruction and recovery have barely begun.

The most recent escalation of violence in Gaza and southern Israel has come at terrible human cost. The recent ceasefire announcement is certainly a welcome one, but is only the first step on a long road toward lasting peace.